Actually Westbrook is that great -- at least in regards to driving to the basket. Nobody can stop him. That is no knock on CP3. However, Westbrook often turns into Westbrick from the three point line. That is why they needed help from the refs to beat us.

jarca

06/03/2014 - 01:33 AM PST

CTB MVP X2

Posts: 9541

votes: 43

No tony Allen lol

Agent0

06/03/2014 - 08:37 AM PST

CTB MVP X2

Posts: 6773

votes: 59

Probably the combination of missing almost 30 games and only playing 22-23 mpg. Remember this award is voted for during the regular season, playoffs have no bearing on it. I'm going to assume that voters felt he played too few of his teams minutes this season, not that they don't think he's an All-NBA defender, but the award is based on your actual time playing in the season, not the idea of what kind of defender you are.

Agent0

06/03/2014 - 08:43 AM PST

CTB MVP X2

Posts: 6773

votes: 59

Regular season award, he was great in the regular season, great vs Curry, struggled vs Westbrook. Actually most teams that contain Westbrook do it not because he can't get past the first defender, he really can, but because when he does they make him shoot contested mid-range jumpers (help is there quickly so he doesn't get a clear path to the rim) or they are teams that rotate and get in position quickly and make him take poor forced shots at the rim as much as possible. Of course depending on the night, while you can limit the FG's made, sometimes those wild attacks at the rim are 10+ FTA as opposed to missed shots.

If you watch the film, our biggest problem wasn't actually the initial point of defense, we just didn't do well on our pick and roll reads and positioning. A blow by here and there by a guy like Russell will happen. DJ actually had a bit of a struggle in the series that is evident if you compare Duncan and Gasol's positioning against the pick and roll to take away the clear path of attack as much as possible vs DJ's. Maybe it was actually OKC scouting how DJ reads / pays the pick and roll and exploiting it too.

Game 6 was really the only game we contained him, but other factors didn't make that one successful despite that. There's never been a time where Paul can just consistently guard Westbrook one on one without team schemes, but for his career and during the regular season he's defended him well because he's directed him to areas where he has to take more difficult shots, which is really what you should aim to do. In props to Westbrook too, he made some shots much more accurately that series than he usually does, the first 5 games he was shooting 41% 3PT on 4 attempts.

Granted SA and Memphis are better defensive teams by a good margin, but he shot 40.7% FG and 28.1% 3PT vs SA and 38.2% FG and 23.8% 3PT vs Memphis. He certainly got hot at the right time with his 3PT and mid-range shooting, but after the pick was set on Paul, the secondary defense was far inferior to the other series, and that's where you need to get him, but he hit a lot of pull up there's that he wouldn't usually make so accurately. It's comparable to Jamal's game 3-7 vs GS where he averaged 19.8 PPG / 47.8% FG and 40.5% 3PT. Of course if he maintains that in the OKC series we win, but you can't expect that.

He then came back down to earth with 14.2 PPG / 35.3% FG / 29.4% 3PT vs OKC despite GS actually being the better defensive team among the two. Westbrook was both hot and had the Clippers reads on pick and roll were favorable for him to be successful.

ClipperKyle32

06/03/2014 - 08:49 AM PST

CTB MVP X1

Posts: 3330

votes: 28

Well if you want to use that series lets talk about the Warriors series with the best scoring point guard in the NBA. Locking an opponent down is not essentially the numbers. Its the work....

Small things really are big. Simplifying it a bit because there's fouls and turnovers too, but just looking at shooting. The difference between holding Westbrook to 40% FG and allowing him 50% FG on 20 FGA is two more missed shots. Seems small, but that's possibly a +4 difference for your team, and over a series, if you do it consistently, it could be something like +6, then one game he explodes, then +2, +4, +8 and then he explodes another game and is better than usual. Then add in forced turnovers, if you aren't force feeding him FT's, and making him mis two or more extra shots a game can mean your team is 2-4 ore more pts closer or further ahead with 1 or 2 minutes left in the game. If DJ is in 15 pick and rolls involving Westbrook and reads it well 60% of the time, 9/15, Westbrook shoots on 8 of those and is 3/8. If on the 6 bad reads Westbrook shoots 5 times and is 3/5, that's now 6/13 FG. If you made the right read 85% of the time 13/15, he shoots 11 times and is 3/11 and shoots 1/2 on the poor reads, now he misses two more shots, he's 4/13 instead, and that's a possible +4 for your team in defending him and their team. If his other attempts are 2/2 fastbreak, 1/3 (makes a 3PT shot) from isolation 1/2 offensive rebound and put back, then he's 4/7 everywhere else.

Making the right reads 13/15 times means he's 8/20, if he goes to the line 6 times, 5/6, that's 22 pts.

Making the right reads 9/15 times means he's 10/20, one more trip to the line due to more poor reads and he's 7/8 FT and that's 28 pts

Sure it was only a difference of 4 shooting plays and 1-2 plays where he got to the line over a whole game, but at this level, that's enough, which is why you want to limit breakdowns and poor reads as much as possible. You know a blow by will happen, you know he'll get a steal and get out on the break for something easy, you know some tough shots will be made, so when you're set defensively, you want him missing those extra two or more shots a game.